Boro BBQ Festival Features High School Steak Competition

Six Middle Tennessee high schools will compete for top honors in the 2016 Backyard BBQ Festival High School Steak Cook-Off. Culinary teams from Siegel High, Glencliff High, Stewarts Creek High, McGavock High, Blackman High, and Smyrna High will light a fire and prepare select cuts of beef in hopes of formulating an award-winning recipe. The competition takes place on Saturday, April 23 at Cannonsburgh Village in Murfreesboro.

The steak submissions will be judged by KCBS-certified judges beginning at 1:30 p.m.

“The judges for the High School Steak Cook-off are also judging the Backyard BBQ Festival competitors. They are trained and certified by the Kansas City Barbecue Society, the premiere organization for barbecue competitions,” says coordinator Sharon Seibert. “These kids will be trying to impress the same people that judge the best BBQ in the world.”

The judging panel includes a celebrity judge, as well. NewsChannel5 Meteorologist and KCBS-certified judge Lelan Statom will apply his expert palate to evaluate the young cuisiniers.

As part of the competition, the students will be required to introduce their submissions to the judges. “We’ve modeled the judging after the TV show, Chopped,” said Seibert.

Backyard BBQ Festival chairperson, Dr. George Smith, says the High School SteakCook-off is in the early stages of becoming a state-wide high school championship. “I see this competition as an opportunity to promote the culinary arts in high schools across the state. There really is nothing else like it.”

Registration is not closed and culinary faculty can register their teams through April 18. More information can be found online at BackyardBBQFest.com, or by contacting Sharon Siebert via the BBQ web site.

The Backyard BBQ Festival is a fundraiser orchestrated by the Murfreesboro Breakfast Rotary Club. Held in conjunction with Pioneer Days and Earth Day activities, the event includes the 5th annual KCBS-sanctioned Backyard BBQ competition, a rib-eating contest, corn-hole tournament and, of course, the High School Culinary Cook Off. The High School Culinary Cook Off is sponsored by Murfreesboro Water and Sewer.